Reasons To Keep On 'Keeping On' (pt-1) - [2 Corinthians 5:1-4]

If you would please turn your Bibles. 2nd Corinthians chapter 5. 2nd Corinthians 5 We sang in a couple of the songs tonight one of them when this poor Lisping stammering tongue lies silent in the grave and that will happen.

But then in a nobler sweeter song I'll sing thy power to save and one of the other ones talked about how that we blossom and We and we flourish, but we also Begin to wither and perish and To introduce this message this evening I just like to say that there are there are all kinds of motivations in life.

An athlete is motivated by the challenge to break a record or maybe win the gold and employees at a company they may be Motivated by the benefits package or the compensation the technical challenge or maybe even the promotion the Archaeologists the astronaut the ocean explorer or scientist for that new discovery and so on with all the hardship that they endure with all of the pains with all of the regiments that they must go through they they still push and They keep on keeping on till they win the gold till They capture the prize till they make the discovery or till they reach that position in their career that they've desired.

But I want to look at tonight. What? What is it? That is the proper motivation for a Christian? What about those who are laboring for Jesus Christ in? The trenches of day to day and week to week and month to month and year to year ministry.

The Hope of the Minister in 2 Corinthians 4

The Apostle Paul writes these words in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 and In verse 1 for we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved We have a building of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens.

For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house Which is from heaven if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan Being burdened not for that.

We would be unclothed but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the self same thing as God who has also given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident knowing that whilst we are at home in the body We are absent from the Lord for we walk by faith not by sight.

We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and To be present with the Lord. We are going to look at chapter 5 but Preceding chapter 5 is chapter 4 and I'd like for you just to turn back with me and just notice some of the words that Paul used here in chapter in chapter 4.

The Apostle Paul deals with the ministry of serving Jesus Christ. In Verses 1 through 3 he speaks of the characteristics of the minister or of the servant. Where they are those who endure those who are honest those who are not?

Crafting and those who handle the Word of God properly and then verses 7 through 12 He deals with the dangers and the the trials of ministry and there he speaks that That he and those that labored with him were troubled on every side.

They were perplexed. They were persecuted they suffered for the sake of Jesus Christ and if that was the whole picture It would be pretty bleak. It would be time to close the book and let's go home. But that's not the end of of his account here at the end of chapter 4 he begins to deal with the subject of the hope of the minister or the hope of the servant and What he says if you'll look in verse 14 with me He says knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus Shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you.

He said one day God who raised Christ will also raise us up by Jesus Christ and will present us together before the Lord and He then goes on he says for all things are for your sakes that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many Redound to the glory of God.

Verse 16 for which cause we faint not. Paul says we don't want to quit. We are not going to be numbered among those who cast in the towel throw it in and quit and walk away from ministry He says or from serving Christ.

He says but though our but though our outward man perish. Yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction and it's amazing to think about it if you consider here in this chapter beforehand in chapter 11 of 2nd Corinthians it speaks of of all of Paul's Perils and tribulations and afflictions and persecutions that he went through and he says it is but a light affliction.

He says it's transitory. It's just it's just a passing thing He says but our light affliction which is but for a moment Worketh for us a far more exceeding an eternal weight of glory he says if you take if you take all the suffering that I've been through and if you then Compare that to or weigh it up against all that is waiting for the believer in glory and all that he's spoken of here.

And he begins to speak of in chapter 5. He says there's there's just no comparison. The the weight of That which will come to the believer far of as far as glory and future and what is ahead. Far outweighs the the momentary light affliction here upon the earth.

And then he says in verse 18 while we look not at things which are seen But at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal in the in the desire for the Apostle Paul and the desire that I have for us this evening as we consider the Word of God and how it is that we ought to minister and how it is that we ought to serve Christ and what it ought to be that Motivates us and causes us to go on forward to keep on keeping on.

That's the the the name of this. The title for this message reasons to keep on keeping on you will notice that endurance. Patient endurance to be able to keep pressing forward for Christ is Based upon our ability to look beyond the physical to the spiritual.

It's based upon our ability to look beyond the present to the future and also to our ability to look beyond that which is visible that which we see with our eyes and To be able to look at and gaze upon and meditate upon and hope for and have an assurance of and have a confidence for That which is invisible.

Notice back in chapter 5 and in verse 7 Paul puts this in parentheses this quote here that we see. This aside he says for we walk by faith and not by sight. And certainly if we were walk by sight everything that we see around us would cause us to be discouraged.

Everything that we see crumbling and folding and and and and falling apart as far as the world and as far as far as I'm Going to touch on it even our own bodies We could get pretty discouraged. That's why we're to keep a gaze and to keep our eyes fixed upon That which is invisible that which is eternal that which will last forever that which we can stand upon and rest upon.

And then this is not a. You know of course the chapter Divisions we're not in the original and we see that there is a continuation from chapter 4 into chapter 5 for We know he goes on to to Keep talking about and dealing with this subject of not keeping our eyes on that which we can see.

But look on the invisible. In chapter 5 Paul gives as he started to give in chapter 4 more reasons and more motivations to go on in Ministry he tells us what helped him to continue on. What was his support and what was the support that brought him and the others who served Christ with him?

Consolation as they labored hard as they ran their race and as they fought their fight in ministry. This part of the Word of God comes to us this evening as deep and profound truth. That all the servants of God can glean from and I believe that what brought the Apostle Paul.

And as I said before those who labored with him what brought them hope. What brought them strength. What what was it that kept spurring them on can also bring us hope and strengthen our hearts. What supported them and spurred them to press on and not to quit through all the difficulties of daily hardship and Sacrifices and the battles of representing the Lord Jesus Christ in a dark and in an uncaring world.

Can also afford the same support to us. So it's relevant. The Word of God is for us. It's it's it's profitable for us this evening. And I hope that when we when we look at these first four verses of chapter 5 We will be able to glean from it and we will be able to go out baby.

With a little bit more spring in our step not because we sang some good ditties. We had some great hand clapping or whatever. Not that I'm I'm not putting down any of that, but that the Word of God Just gripped our hearts this evening and it was that which Strengthened us to be able to go on the Apostle Paul refers to these reasons of support these points of consolation.

The reasons that every believer ought to have a continued zeal for serving God in spite of the difficult Circumstances, I mean let's face reality. Haven't there been times When in serving the Lord Jesus Christ.

It wasn't Christ. It wasn't the scriptures. It wasn't the the church that that we were tired of but we grew weary and we have grown weary. We did not know if we would get up and go to the service this evening.

Maybe some of you are are surprised that you're even here God was good to you and and allowed you to be able to rest maybe today and to be able to come but sometimes we get frustrated. Sometimes we get depressed we get stepped on and mistreated and and misrepresented and some of those things.

Contempt us to want to just run away into exile and just get stuck on some deserted island and just you know. Kind of have our scriptures and cup of tea or coffee and just get away from it all. But we must walk by faith and not by sight not let anything that we see not let any Circumstance that comes our way cause us to be derailed cause us to be like Those that are fighting in the in the boxing match and and when it's when one side is over and being pulverized.

Usually the the the manager or the trainer on the side will throw in the towel say that's it I quit but for us not to quit for us not to grow weary in well-doing. We must walk by faith. We must look upon things that we cannot see being supported by the invisible by our gracious God and King himself our Heavenly Father our Lord our Savior who has Rescued us from so great a death and has set our feet solidly upon a rock the Lord Jesus Christ and called us to be his People and yet it just doesn't stop there.

Yes God. I mean we sang the song who is on the Lord's side. I am so grateful that the scripture says and what is really important is that the Lord is on our side. We will not fear. What can man do unto us?

Our great God and King is for us who can be against us and he hasn't just left it at that. He's given us a great book. He's given us the Holy Bible the Word of God and in it There are so many precious promises.

There are so many precious truths and principles that we can rest upon and standing on those promises. I cannot fail because they're God's promises. We cannot fail and we ought not to think about giving up or quitting even when we have the thought go through our head.

My aim and I believe the Apostles aim was to strengthen the believers resolve. So that they would push forward and endure by faith in all sorts of adversity and I'd like to share with you a Series of messages during the time that God permits me to preach the Word of God this summer.

And this is where I'd like to start. There are other places where we could go for reasons that would give us to keep on keeping on or motivating. Factors or things that would bolster our strength as we serve Christ and here I just want to come to 2nd Corinthians 5 where Paul is giving these reasons why?

Why he and his other fellow laborers in the gospel did not quit or go awol from their position in the ranks of God's army. And I realized as I said, there are many many other places that you could go to and as I'm preaching You're probably thinking brother Dave.

You could go here there or whatever. That's great. That would be another message. But here we are this evening and the first reason that the Apostle Paul gives us here in 2nd Corinthians Chapter 5 is is that Christians are confident of their own?

Resurrection unto eternal life. Christians are people who are confident of their own resurrection. Unto eternal life. Paul begins this first verse by saying for we know. We know this speaks of confidence.

This is a sure thing. This is a reality. This is this is a sure knowledge in the Apostle Paul's life. And what is the reason Paul knew and reminded them that if their bodies should die. They had an eternal inheritance reserved for them in heaven.

Strong words he uses we know. Unwavering words, there's no doubt here. And what does the Apostle Paul know? He says well we know. That if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved or our our body this Tabernacle or this tent were to dissolve and true if we just kind of think a moment.

The body is frail, isn't it? It's sickly. It's feeble. It's crumbling. It's decaying and the Apostle Paul uses this metaphor of a tabernacle or a tent. He could he had a he could identify with that Paul was a tent maker.

I lived in a day where people were nomadic and they used tents and they They also could look back upon the Old Testament and remember the tabernacle in the wilderness where that was a Place that when God moved they struck that the tabernacle took it down to dismantle it and they brought it someplace else.

Tents are not meant to be permanent dwelling places. They are not meant to last forever. You just stay in them for a short while and then you move on. The body has no properties of being permanent. It is not an everlasting dwelling for us this body that we presently live in this shell of clay that we are residing in.

We know that when sin entered in the world death followed and death has passed upon all of us. And as I speak the Apostle Paul says if our if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved our our tabernacle is dissolving.

The body is temporary. Its days are numbered and the countdown began the day we were born and. For some of us the wearing out of the body is happening a bit quicker than others. Isn't it if you think about it?

I mean I can go to your dentist and get the charts and tell and it tells me that You and I have got some serious decay. Those teeth aren't gonna last forever. Some of us I look around I can see this evening with me.

You're wearing eyeglasses because the eyesight is not what it used to be. Look on top of your heads in my head and we see the hair is graying. We are we are growing older. What about the joints of the body some of you here have had some replaced parts of your body?

Speaking of flow this morning in the hallway. She said her knees or it's a trip it's it's just hereditary in her family the knees give out and I was Sharing with somebody not too long ago that I think it was it was last year I went swimming and it went underwater and I heard this popping and cracking and snapping of my joints.

I'm 50 years old. I can remember the day when I was 17 and 18. And I could swim three lengths of the swimming pool underwater without a problem. I couldn't do that today probably with the tank on my back.

I mean We are crumbling. We are decaying and those teeth going and their hair graying and the body given out in the slow movement we can't get up like like we used to can't run as fast as we used to every one of those things is an Indication that we are going to die every single one of them.

Our bodies are failing and I it does not matter what we do to the body pamper it. Exercise it fill it with health food and vitamins give it rest and take it to the doctor. And these things are all wise to do but no matter what remedy we may try to use to prolong life.

God's Word still comes ringing loud and clear that our days are numbered and it is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment. Old age and death are inescapable and my friends you and I must come to grips with death your death my death.

But the story does not end there praise the Lord because we're gonna go on and we're gonna see that it does not end there. There is a hope. There is something that we can be confident about there is something that we can glean from and just and rejoice in and it can Become such a stability for us and such an assurance of us for us.

And it is the assurance of our immortality. That's what he's dealing with here. The assurance of our immortality is a reason to keep on keeping on. But Paul says that the body is dissolving the body is decaying the body is likened unto a a canvas tent.

That through years of exposure To the elements begins to get worn out and the material breaks down and tears and the tent ropes are loosening. And the tent pegs are slowly pulling out of the ground and soon That tent will collapse and what Paul is talking about is when the tent collapses.

We're buried in the grave our life is over as Earthly speaking as it is our physical life on earth is done. That's what he's saying. And though this happens though the body gets worn out and he uses this word dissolve.

Which in the Greek has the meaning to take something apart? Has it carries the idea of throwing something down or destroying or dismantling a building piece by piece by piece? And some of us as we look in the mirror I mean have you ever done this you just you just getting ready for the day and you look in the mirror and you just don't.

See the same person you saw many years ago and sometimes, you know. You get to look in this like is that really me? Is this really happening to me? And yes, it is really happening to us. Yes, we are taking on different wrinkles and folds and bends and crooks and.

And we're not what we used to be and you know what? We cannot reverse that when it comes to the physical aspect of wearing out and what does Paul say though? But we have a prospect. We have a hope of a better home.

We have an heavenly dwelling place and a house not made with hands. He says though the body is dissolved. We have a building of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens a Building of God or it is made by God.

God is the architect of the future Eternal dwelling place for us and he has something wonderful for us. Something for us to look forward to. It's in house a celestial pure Immortal immortal body and some commentators have referred to it as a celestial vehicle.

I like celestial chariot myself a Celestial chariot a different body a body though similar to what we have. Because when the Lord Jesus Christ was raised they looked upon him and it wasn't freakish. It wasn't it wasn't something that was outlandish because they recognized them when they when he revealed himself To them but he came to them with hands and arms and feet and the the hole in his side in the hand and the holes in his.

The pierce marks in his in his hands and they knew who he was and we will receive the same. I love that that Previous chapter verse 14 knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus Shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you.

Now some of us may die before the time of the resurrection of our bodies but we will still be in spirit absent from this body and present with the Lord until his coming and then the bodies are raised and all of the atoms and all of the All of the pieces and parts wherever they might be will be brought together and God will give us an immortal body an everlasting different spiritual changed body a one that we can't even comprehend.

But it's true and it's not made by hands not made by human hands. Because if it were made by human hands, it would certainly be temporary frail and one day fall apart. I don't know about you when I was a kid.

I used to make a lot of model airplanes and cars and I I get them all together, but it wouldn't take long before they were in pieces. Glue would not work right or I didn't put it together or just over time I mean these I mean I I was coming to the services even this evening and I was looking at the beautiful trees up on The hill of Indian Meadows, I think it is over near 190 and then right across the street is all this rusted and decayed towers of the Norton Company or the What do they call it now St. Cobain.

I used to work there. It's and it's all falling apart, I mean this is what God has done. It's beautiful and what God can do will last but what man does it's just so tainted and one day will fall apart.

God is the author and the architect and the builder and We will have an eternally permanent fixed Body that will last forever and in that resurrected and glorified body. We will spend an eternity in heaven with God our Savior.

Heaven is the glorious place that the Lord Jesus promised to us in John chapter 14 verses 1 through 3 where he said let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God believe also in me and my father's house are many mansions.

If it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also it's a prepared place and it's going to be a real place a Certain place that we can know and count on the scriptures.

Tell us it is so Unbelievable place where mortality is not known. It will be the land of no more is no more sickness. There will be no more disease. No more pain. No more hospitals. No more death. No more graves.

No more funerals. No more goodbyes and no more crying because our Heavenly Father will wipe away every tear from our eyes and in that place and Time that our brother Lewis read to us and when we're when we will all be changed in the twinkling of an eye and it will Come to pass at that time that death will be swallowed up in Christ's victory and we will no longer be Shackled to mortality think about it.

No more. No more shackled to this body Which is folding like a tent and this truth this promise of God to every believer Kept the wind in the great Apostle sails and We by faith in the unseen preparations by faith in the unseen preparations of Our God can look forward to the same and this is something we ought to be focusing upon as we go through this sin ravaged world as we See things that are decaying and falling apart all around us.

We ought to purpose to think on these things. To look upon the invisible. To consider the things that are not seen to walk by faith and not by sight. We ought to desire that which God is purpose purpose to give all those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ Jesus himself.

Spoke these words. You don't have to turn there. I'll read them in John chapter 6 and in verse 40 and this is the will of him which hath sent me. Jesus said this Is the father's will which hath sent me that of everyone who sees the Son and believes on him may have?

Everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the last day. All I can say that is glory praise the Lord. I mean think about it. We will be raised raised up and not one of us shall be lost. When Jesus was speaking to Martha and to Mary after the death of Lazarus He said these words particularly as he was speaking to Martha.

He said to her I am the resurrection. Chapter 11 John 11 25 and 26. I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me. Though he were dead yet. Shall he live that is completely foreign in opposite than the way that it ought to be.

You'll have the skeptics and the scoffers and the unbelievers who will say, you know, it's annihilation. There's nothing after the grave. Nobody's ever been there. Nobody's ever come back and I think if anybody ever went there.

They wouldn't they wouldn't want to come back anyways. But it's true what Jesus said on the resurrection in the life he that believeth in me though He were dead yet. Shall he live and get these words brethren whosoever Liveth and believeth and me shall never die.

And he says to her believe thou this. Do you believe this? The question comes to us this evening do we believe this? The scripture says it. But do we appropriate it for ourselves? I? mean sometimes we think of heaven and we think of yeah one day I'll have I'll be clothed with immortality as the apostle is saying here.

But do we think upon it and meditate upon it and believe it so that we we appropriate it for ourselves and it is life-changing to us and It is a it is a strength to us in difficult times. We ought to want to reach heaven.

But we don't want to do this at the expense of stepping around earthly life. Bypassing the life with all of its trials. The Apostle Paul spoke to them in chapter 4. But he says and even in these trials, I'm not looking at the trials.

The trials aren't the fuel for my gas tank. But the trials and the persecutions are not those things which keep me going. What keeps me going is my God is faithful to me. What got what keeps me going is that God strengthens me and he's with me and he doesn't leave me or forsake me and he's made promises to me.

He's revealed the truth to me that my body is going to decay and it's going to collapse and one day be put in the grave. Dust will return to dust. But God's going to do something about that dust and one day we shall all be changed.

One day we will be resurrected one day we will see and behold the face of Jesus Christ in a body that will be immortal and That ought to give us great Encouragement. The trials and pains of earthly living are just meant are meant to prepare us for the eternal joy and peace and rest in Christ.

Do you want to know what will keep a servant of Jesus Christ? Running the race. There are many many answers as I said earlier I mean you could think of the love of God towards us and we're gonna we're gonna look at that as we consider this chapter.

You could think of the fact of the conviction and the awareness that soon We will appear before the Lord Jesus Christ and be judged for the things that we've done in our body. That's another point in this chapter.

How about the love of Christ that leaves us no choice? Is in this chapter God has changed our views about everything and that will give us motivation to keep on. And how about the the fact of Scripture that?

That the realization that we've been commissioned by God to be his ambassador ambassadors. Those are those are motivating reasons. But here in this beginning of this chapter Paul makes it very clear that we are assured of Immortality and that truth is a strong reason to press on and it is possible to be assured That we will be raised in an immortal body that we will be in heaven.

The scripture is replete. It speaks of this Paul's words here in verse 1. We know Paul's words in verse 8. We are confident the Apostle John Verse chapter of his first epistle chapter 5 in verse 13 these things I have written unto you that believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have Eternal life our Lord Jesus Christ promised in John 6 47 verily verily or truly truly I say unto you he that believeth on me has eternal life.

Peter wrote in his first epistle these words in 1st Peter you don't have to turn there. I'll turn and come right back to Corinthians 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a Living hope unto a an active hope unto a real hope.

He says we have this hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled. And that fades not away reserved in heaven for you. And then he goes on to say who are kept we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

Ready to be revealed in the last time. When he said it was an inheritance that we're going to get it's incorruptible undefiled and fades not away. It is one that cannot decay in its essence. It cannot decay in its continuance.

It's as immortal as God is. It is Everlasting forever and ever. The inheritance that has promised us Peter John Paul even from the the oldest Patriarch from the beginning of scriptures the one of the oldest books of the Bible Job spoke these words in chapter 19 verse 26 speaking of himself.

There he is in his is misery. There he is. Scraping the pus with the pieces of pottery off his body from the boils that he has and the misery that he's in. And he's got his great friends coming to help him out.

And he says these words and though after my skin worms Destroy this body yet in my flesh. I shall see God. That's very important in my flesh. I shall see God. These men knew it and God's Word Repeatedly declares it and there's no reason why we shouldn't either.

The Holy Spirit assures us that we are born of God and have become God's children through faith in Jesus Christ alone. God has saved us and made us his very own people and we are a people who believe What the Bible says because God reveals it to us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

I love the way that Lewis when he prayed He said let the Holy Spirit be our ultimate teacher. And how true that is. It's futile for us to come here and for you to try for me to try to reason with you from my own puny mind.

For you to try to understand these things. What will happen and something great will happen if the Holy Spirit takes the words from this book and opens them up to our? Understanding and we can take that and live it and go with it.

That's what's important. It is it is the facts of the scripture you see Christianity is Not based upon feelings. We we are in a sad state when we allow our feelings to control our actions and our thinking and our will.

It's not feelings. Feelings are good when we have them as a byproduct or as an after Result of being blessed by the truth of the Word of God. But our hope and assurance brethren is based upon biblical facts.

We know what God says because he's had it recorded and he's faithfully kept it for us. It's sure it's settled forever. And we are confident after this life there is something wonderfully better and that confidence anchors the soul and Fuels the fire for continued service.

Jesus our Lord was raised from the dead and the promise comes to us that like him First Corinthians 15 says he's the he's the one that went before us being raised. We shall be raised also. It is facts and not feeling that our confidence.

This this principle is illustrated in a short poem that I memorized Several years ago and it goes like this. Three men went walking on a wall feeling faith in fact. When feeling had an awful fall and faith was taken back.

So close was faith to feeling that he stumbled and fell too. But fact remained and pulled faith back and faith brought feeling to. The importance is it's facts. It is believing what God says. It is not the feeling that ought to drive and ought to be the motivating factor because if we go based upon our feelings I think I'd be preaching maybe to one or two here this evening because we'd feel like staying home.

We'd feel like cashing in we'd feel like throwing in the towel. But fact remains when we look at the scriptures that this is God's irrefutable truth this is what God has recorded to us by the ministry of the Holy Spirit breathing upon the Apostle and and and moving as it were the the pen of his hand and of his mind to record these words for us and How glorious it is when it comes to us?

That we as the blood-bought children of God can and ought to have an assurance of our immortality. I Believe that if we're confident of this Don't you think that it would be a powerful motivating factor in our daily struggles and ministry.

It is said of Stonewall Jackson in the Civil War of our country in the 1800s that he was as peaceful on the battlefield as He was sleeping in the bed of his own in the bed of his home back in his bed at home back at home Battlefield bullets flying enemies there or back in his bed.

He was as peaceful in either one because he trusted in the sovereignty of God. He trusted in the providence of God in the faithfulness of God and he knew that if his body were to dissolve maybe by a bullet maybe by a Cannon blast he had a house not made with hands a building of God eternal in the heavens.

Longing for Heaven Without Escaping Earthly Duty

Well, I've got to kind of go on to the next point. I've got to get to the next verse at least. But we in this in this in this body in this tent we groan. He says the Apostle says there's something that we yearn for.

Paul says in verse 2 we great grown for this reality. Before we are made ready for heaven. We've got to live a life in this temporary frame. And we groan under sin. We groan while living in these corruptible bodies and desire to be called upon with immortality.

We sigh in these bodies of clay. We desire something better and this has the idea that Paul had a heartfelt longing to be free from his earthly body. With all of its weighty frustrating baggage that comes with it like sin and agitation and weakness and just the normal frustrations of being confined to a clay pot to a Crumbling building and to a tent that is rotting all around us tattered in one day will collapse.